Wonderful In Reverse
by Ray Rune
Summary: Inspired by Alice and Wonderland. Our little hero, even if just for a little while, yearns for freedom and respect. Surprisingly enough, a misfit Cheshire Cat does too. A chance meeting makes it two against the world... HarryxOC Chapter 2 & 3 added
1. Reiteration

For a reason beyond myself, I am going to be writing a fan fiction story. Whoop whoop. I am very excited. Really. (._.) Look at that shining emoticon. Anyway, I'll tell you these warnings flat out: many original characters, alternate universe, parody, loose canon... far-off future chapters may hold gore, violence, sexual themes, and may not be appropriate for any audience. Though I doubt you'll see that right away. Thanks for reading this note. m(_ _)m In any case, I sincerely hope you enjoy.

**W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L—I-N—R-E-V-E-R-S-E**

_I am a dream._

_When you wake up, you will eventually forget all about me. So, will you..._

_... stay asleep forever, for me?_

Chapter 01

Reiteration

Our story starts with our hero's small feet padding quietly into his small cupboard, again. As he does so, he thinks about the action of curling his young form in the cramped space. It was getting uncomfortable at his age of a whole eight years. Well, it was not because he didn't fit, seeing as he was too thin and short to be outgrown for it. However, this feeling of discomfort could very well be the beginning of a phobia.

Oh, how he wished he could have his own room... Even that small bedroom next to Dudley's, where that fat child stored the junk that he hardly ever bothered with anymore, even that room would be fine enough. But no! He was too much a freak, a burden, and thus undeserving. It never failed to be degrading. But he learned quickly to get used to it, or else he would never again see the light of day. It really was a choice between which hell he would prefer, and before cupboard-time our little hero wondered in unadulterated angst what heaven would be like. The only time he could claim he was in heaven was when he was sleeping, where the life before his open eyes was replaced with something completely unrelated... and liberating.

With his spirits lifting at the thought of escaping again tonight, the young boy of eight closed his eyes and gradually fell into a deep, deep, sleep.

... _Nice to meet you, nya! ..._

Defying all common sense, he was floating softly down to the ground, eyes still closed. But by the time the realization hit him, his feet were flat on the earthy ground again. His eyelids snapped wide open in an instant and scanned his surroundings. He was in a small clearing of...

"A forest," his rational mind spoke, but what was before his eyes was something a little less than an image of sanity. It could even be called frightening.

Ridiculously _toweringly_ tall trees, black trunks warped in a way that seemed almost like vines, were topped by bushes of fluorescent violet leaves. Though far up and away from where he was standing, he could still feel the subtle warmth that radiated from the leaves. Though they were intimidating in appearance, that small quality made him glad that they were like that, because otherwise he was sure he'd be cold. Though, he couldn't see the sky because of them, either... Our little hero wondered if the sky would be a strange colour like everything else, too.

Speaking of strange colours, he looked down at the earth under his feet. It was still dark brown, but it seemed richer, softer, and more fertile than the earth he usually saw—even the dirt in his aunt's garden wasn't as good as this kind. He weeded her garden often, so he would know. Anyway, he was standing on a dirt pathway of some kind, and in front of him it twisted deep into the forest until it was out of sight. Looking behind him, he noticed it went a little ways until it faded into thick turqoise grass...

"Turquoise grass?" He, dryly, stated aloud to himself.

Unexpectedly, an affirmative hum answered him immediately, followed by a soft girl's voice, "So... how long are you going to stand like that, just looking around?"

He whipped his head to face the treetops so fast, that his neck gave way to a small crack. His startled posture was so stiff, he was sure he'd feel it later. But at the moment, he disregarded his discomfort and stared in wonder at the creature sitting on a branch in a nearby tree.

He would have recognized her as a young human girl, if it weren't for the cat ears on top of her head and the tail wagging behind her. The ears twitched once in a while at small sounds, like a real domesticated cat, and looked very real. He looked for normal ears but her messy bi-coloured hair, though only falling to her chin, obscured the sides of her face very well. Her green eyes were as fluorescent as the tree leaves above her, and set in a pale face that was currently staring back at him in interest.

He opened his mouth to speak, but when she jumped to the ground right in front of him, he was at a loss for words. His own unique green eyes stared into her creepy ones. In the slight dark of the forest, hers glowed faintly with an energy he couldn't grasp in his mind. _Scary,_ he thought as he stumbled backwards in shock. She wouldn't let him be, though, and followed him. Eventually he tripped and landed on his bum, go figure. Then she took advantage of the moment to sit down and... introduce herself, apparently.

It was no matter that he didn't say anything (or was shivering), as she seemed happy enough to talk for the both of them at the moment. "Hi, I'm Midri the Cheshire. Since I discovered you first, nya, you'll be my charge and I'll be your guardian. I'll be responsible for your presence here, so in exchange I ask that you... nyaa..." She seemed to 'nyaa' as she drifted off in thought, and then continued, "... that you be my best friend!"

Despite her odd, black and green themed appearance (especially in her hair), she flushed pink in nervousness when she smiled. She reminded him of the girls at his school, though he never talked to them. Somehow those thoughts caused our protagonist to calm down. Rationalizing, he reasoned that she had not given him much cause to treat her with fear and disrespect. Though, she did appear out of nowhere, she seemed well-intentioned right now. If she was friendly, maybe she could help him find out where he was too.

Gathering the courage in him, he replied, "I'm Harry Potter." Receiving an enthusiastic greeting from Midri the Cheshire, he asked "What's a Cheshire?"

She paused and blinked at him. He could just picture her scrounging for words in her head before she explained happily, "A Cheshire is a descendant of a powerful being that once had the ability to travel _anywhere_, and do _anything_. Its name being The Cheshire Cat, The Cheshire Cat used to be the most powerful magical presence in Wonderland... Though not a cat, it had the ability to fully transform into a cat, or even become invisible, too!" She grinned in pride, with not a little amount of boasting. _"As if he'd know!"_ She added silently in thought.

It was Harry's turn to pause, and in that time he digested all this confusing information. Many questions popped up in his mind, but excitement tended to blur his words somewhat together. At his age, he wouldn't notice. What he asked, though, was "Magic is real? What in the world is Wonderland? And does that mean you can do all that stuff, too, if you're a Cheshire? Are those ears real?"

He blushed in embarrassment when Midri seemed to fall over in laughter. Confused, he glared at her until she stopped. After settling down, she patted his shoulder in a placating manner, and explained quickly to get back on his good side, "Magic is real, depending on who you ask. Not everyone believes in it, but the Cheshires are so obviously magical, so now that you asked one... Yes, yes, magic is very real." Seeing the even more confused look Harry was giving her, she elaborated slowly, "Sorry if I'm not making sense. It's a Cheshire thing. But like I said, not everyone believes in magic, so they choose to say that it doesn't exist... So, for them, magic fades out of existence. But there are others who do, and it stays in their families and such. The question is, do you believe in magic?"

He seriously thought about it for a second, but was still bewildered as he replied, "I don't know. I guess."

After that long explanation, they took a moment to rest. Not that they had really _went_ anywhere, but they had moved over to a more comfortable place on the turquoise grass. Midri lay down on her back to watch the glowing canopy of the forest, and eventually Harry copied her posture. He admired the view and the warmth flowing from them, while wondering why they glowed like that. Midri asked if he was hungry, and he looked over to see her holding out a green apple. He accepted graciously and gingerly they ate their fruit. As soon as he bit into it, he was assaulted with a sweetness more so than normal apples. It was more like candy here than from where he came.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed. "It's so sweet!"

Midri polished her apple off in record time before he realized it, and while she licked the juice off her fingers, she smiled indulgently at him. "Your welcome." And in a more serious tone, she bravely ventured despite nervousness, "I am your best friend, after all. For you, only the best. I promise."

Harry didn't know how to reply to that. This Cheshire girl was very different than the kids he was used to, and he was sure that if his family found out about her, they would forbid him from seeing her ever again. So, it wasn't as if he didn't want to be her best friend, but he couldn't. Not safely, anyway. Then again, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He had never had a best friend before; Dudley had made sure of that. There was one more problem, too...

"Hey, Midri?" He tentatively asked, sitting up.

Hearing his odd tone after her self-proclamation, she sat up as well. "Yeah, Harry?"

"Where are we?"

"Whoops. I forgot to explain your situation clearly." It was a good thing she was a Cheshire, because they naturally—normally—had good intuitions, which gave them good comprehensive skills. "This might confuse you, but try to go along with this anyway: you remember falling asleep, right?"

He nodded slowly, a look of dawning realization washing over his face. How come he hadn't remembered it until now? He wasn't sure if this should scare him, but... His blood raced through his veins in apprehension for her explanation on what happened or was happening to him.

"_My new best friend is a sharp one, alright! He's realized it already."_ She commended him, before vocalizing, "After you fell asleep your consciousness brought you here, to a different dimension's land, which you may call **Wonderland**. This forest is in Cheshire Territory. It's probably because you're magical like me and most inhabitants here. This has happened before numerous times to various people like you." She mused, "The first ever recorded person to come here when they were sleeping, was when The Cheshire Cat was still alive, and her name was Alice."

Harry started at that last fact. "Hey, that's a story in my world!"

Midri's eyes widened in curiosity. "Really, nya! Cool!" Her ears perked forward.

Harry laughed; she had looked like a domestic cat he saw once. "Yeah, it's a book and a movie. I think it was called _Alice in Wonderland_, too." Harry replied enthusiastically, having recognized something finally. In such a strange and unfamiliar world, it was the familiar things that made him more comfortable. To be able to relate was naturally very pleasing.

"Maybe she wrote about us." Midri's excited face beamed at Harry. "Did you watch it? What was it about? Was The Cheshire Cat in it?"

Harry laughed, and Midri realized what she just did. She flushed and smiled sheepishly. She may look different, and act bolder than most kids, but otherwise she acted like any other kid he knew.

Though it turned out Harry never watched the whole movie, because his Aunt and Uncle hated _freakish things_, he had watched part of it during school. As they walked around the forest and recreated Alice's quest in jest (Harry being Alice sent them into fits of giggles), they talked about the movie; they talked about what people they were familiar with, and parts that were right or wrong, and so on and so forth. They fooled around for a long while.

"_This isn't so bad. Midri's cool, and being here is fun, though strange."_

Their fun came to a halt, though, soon enough. Before they could anticipate it, Harry was hearing a voice echoing distortedly in the back of his mind...

"Bbooyy! Bbooyy! Ggeett uupp, tthhiiss iinnssttaanntt!"

Harry stopped in midstep, frozen. When Midri glanced over in question, he asked her, "Did you hear that?"

She shook her head. He insisted "I just heard my Aunt calling for me."

She tilted her head in thought, before bounding toward him and examining him closely with her eery neon eyes. He wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she must've found it, because soon she pulled away with a rather pouty expression on her face. Seeing Midri upset caught Harry off guard; she was usually either mischievous or peppy. That was from what he saw so far, anyway.

When she didn't say anything, he asked apprehensively, "Midri? What's wrong?"

"You came here through a dream, so you'll go back through waking up. Basically, like Alice, you'll wake up again. Or at least that's from what I can tell." Midri frowned and didn't meet his eyes. She then added in a whisper, "I am a dream. When you wake up, you will eventually forget all about me. So, will you... stay asleep forever, for me?"

"Midri..."

She knew that what she was asking of him was impossible, not to mention somewhat wrong, but she couldn't help but try... Then again, Midri would feel guilty about tearing him away from everything he knew just because she was selfish. So, she slapped a smile on her face even though her insides said otherwise. Maybe he wouldn't be that perceptive, and he could leave in peace.

The possibility of a person visiting Wonderland in their dreams again was near impossible. Even Alice, who remembered her dream vividly afterward, never came back. What were the chances of _Harry Potter, the eight year old_?

She laughed, though inwardly it was for a different reason. Weird, that it would hurt. "I'm kidding! I'm sure you'll be back... someday. Just, don't forget me, okay? Most people forget..."

Harry shook his head fervently. He smiled in determination. "I won't forget! And I'll be back!" His vision was getting darker, and he felt lighter than air all of a sudden. Alarmed, he grabbed her hand, though it was becoming hard to hold onto because she was rooted firmly to the ground while he rose. "We're best friends, right? So I'll be back—just wait. I promise." Even though he didn't know if he could, he felt it needed to be said.

_Okay. _Midri's girlish voice filtered shakily through the fog of darkness that overtook his mind. She sounded sadder than she had looked like. _Okay, I'll wait for you._ Did she know if it was even possible to return to Wonderland? He hoped they would still be best friends even when they were far apart. _Okay, _her reply to his promise echoed repeatedly in his memory.

He woke up.


	2. Backwards Compatible

**W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L—I-N—R-E-V-E-R-S-E**

\

"_They usually get lost on the way to this village  
__and then suffer some obscure death because  
__they wandered down the wrong path."_

_/_

"_I'm sorry."_

\_  
_

Chapter 02

Backwards Compatible

Life was almost surreal after that experience in his dreams, though he'd forgotten some of it. He did the things that were typical of him daily, from the school to chores to the playground... At cupboard-time he gladly welcomed the embrace of sleep. Life just went on as it always did. Nothing changed. He was still chased around and sometimes beaten up by Dudley. He still was forced to do an overwhelming list of chores to receive his supper. He played at the playground quietly and had fun. He aced school, but no one cared. He was used to it before that night, so exactly what made it all different _now_?

But even when he was enjoying himself, there was still something that _didn't make sense_. He couldn't put his finger on it at first. Whatever didn't add up in his life, whatever it was, it frequented him with an irritating bewilderment that came from being halfway between remembering and forgetting. Had he really forgotten something important?

Just _thinking_ of having forgotten _whatever_ it was made him feel panic. Why would he panic? Maybe what didn't make sense was the feeling of having forgotten something. But could he have forgotten? Did it have to do with the dream? He was starting to lose track of his questions. He was so confused!

It drove him crazy for months.

It took half a year for him to come to the conclusion that whatever it was, it would come to him with time if he was patient. _I shouldn't worry,_ our little hero told himself. _Forcing myself will just make things worse._ And so with that out of the way, he gradually forgot more and more until it was only a wisping smoke to be erased by the wind.

_... Most people forget..._

He was turning nine years old today. Not that it mattered. Maybe he should do something special for himself. After weeding Aunt Petunia's garden, perhaps he'd go explore the wooded area nearby. He'd never done that before, but he was sure Dudley wouldn't bother him there. Maybe he could sneak a snack out of the fridge and then make a break for the woods! Maybe he could even run away... Fat chance of that happening, though. Anyway, perhaps if he found a good clearing of grass, he could lie on his back and watch the clouds go by...

No one cared about him anyway, so it wouldn't matter if he was out of the way for some time.

As he finished up his last chore and walked back into the house, he found his vision suddenly usurped by a bony face of an ass—whoops, his aunt, sorry. She shoved a brown paper bag into his hands and told him to stay out of the way for a few hours since they were fumigating the room of his fat lard of a cousin. The phrasing she used was different than what he would have used, but the meaning was the same.

Oh, well, all the better for him. He actually gets a meal today. He smirked as he strolled out the front door. So far so good.

"_Feels good to do what I want, once in a while."_ He thought, _"Though maybe I should've thought this through more. I feel like I'm forgetting somethin'."_

... _"Wow, it's sweet!" ... "Your welcome."_ ...

An hour or two later, a familiar pair of emeralds were invited to the grand vision of blue again. Not having memory of ever falling asleep in the first place, Harry was horribly disoriented and out of his wits when he woke up. His bespectacled oculars blearily swivelled around in a dizzying circle to take in his surroundings. Despite his half-awareness, he managed to process trees, his empty lunch bag crumpled up beside him, and a light weight on his stomach...

It looked like a black lump, though it would take a few minutes for Harry's eyes to focus on it. Whatever it was, it was warm. Did he bring anything warm with him, here? He was too sleepy to be alarmed. With the intention of moving whatever the black object was, Harry lazily raised a hand to his stomach... and grabbed a fistful of fur. Startled, he snapped into a straight state of mind.

Did he just touch a stray animal? Was it wild? Was it rabid? Was it _alive?_ Would it bite him since he startled it? He never had a pet before, and the only experiences with animals he remembered were intimate chases by Aunt Marge's unfavourable dog. So, his first gut reaction was to panic. Indeed, he did. Well, inside anyway. He really couldn't find it in him to move. It was as if he was frozen in place.

In response to his small actions, the black lump that was actually a small animal taking a snooze on his stomach raised its head to stare him right in the eyes. Harry gulped. 'Twas...

A cat. Some kind of breed he didn't recognize, but still a cat. No, it was only a _kitten!_

Oh. Never mind.

Wait, why wasn't he panicking? So what if it was a cat, that didn't change the fact that it was possibly rabid or diseased! "Ack!" _Please get off, please get off._

Then, to Harry's horror, the young unknown feline started to cross his chest to his face. "Nya. Nya." It cried, and he embarrassingly squeaked in alarm as it head-butted his nose. After that, it 'attacked' him with a lick that landed almost over his eyelid, and pawed his face uncomfortably. How incredibly dishevelling! Our little hero was being done in! Help! S.O.S.!

"_Oh, come on. This is pathetic. You've faced worse. Remember the bloody dog?"_ He reminded himself and slapped himself into reality.

Harry pouted, sat up, and lifted the kitten into the air from its middle. Its feet dangling in the air in front of him, he sternly glared the creature in the face. It simply stared back incomprehensibly, and then meowed its quiet 'nya' once again. Right then, our protagonist lost himself to giggles.

"_Good thing then, that no one is around. Felt silly right then for panicking."_

"A cat... Geez. You surprised me." Harry spoke to no one in particular, not expecting the cat to reply.

It didn't. The kitten sat there contently where he placed it on the ground beside him.

Feeling compelled to talk to someone, perhaps out of loneliness, his mouth ran off on its own. Ideas that Harry had been harbouring in his conscious and subconscious floated to the surface of his mind. "I don't know what it was today that made me want to come out here. Just woke up, remembered that it was my birthday, and felt like going somewhere. What I don't know is why I chose here. Maybe I just wanted some peace from life, who knows?"

He scratched the kitten's head, and it responded with an uneven purr that sounded right for a young feline. He never had a pet, so he couldn't make an educated guess about its age, but it looked rather tiny so... maybe a few months? One year? He doubted it would go far from its mother if it was younger, but he wouldn't know for sure.

"Something keeps coming back to me, though especially since I just woke up a while ago. I remember that there was this dream that was driving me crazy this—eh, last year? I don't know what it was about, but I'm sure that there was something I should've remembered—it has to do with that dream." Harry mused.

The cat meowed at him and cocked its head sideways, as if asking him something. But caught up in thought, and disregarding the silly notion that it understood him, he thought nothing of the action.

"The colours were way off in the forest—yeah, it was in a weird forest! Purple and turquoise. The leaves in the trees had this purple glow about them. I remember being scared, and trying to get away from someone. I don't think he was a bad person, though. He gave me an apple... I think. Or maybe it just appeared in my hand... Anyway, the dream was fun. I don't remember much other than that, but I know I liked it. Maybe that's why I tried so hard to remember it?"

He finally glanced at the black kitten at his side, and noticed something peculiar. "Hey, you have green eyes like me! Creepy. Awesome, but creepy."

The cat pulled away from his petting hand and licked him. With its ears pulled back, it had the most unpleasant expression that Harry couldn't help but gaze blankly at. Why was it looking at him like that? His throat constricted, cutting off anything else he would've said as well. He didn't know why he felt like this when the kitten stared at him. It pulled him out of that after a cute cry. Harry laughed nervously at his strange feelings about this whole situation. _It can't be,_ he repeated in his head.

"You don't understand me, do you?" He asked at the risk of sounding stupid. _"But hey, I'm alone, aren't I?"_

"Nya." It made affectionate gestures to his leg, and then looked at him pointedly in the eyes.

Green met green again, and something sparked in his mind.

Whatever it was he remembered, it would need to be brief; the protagonist would faint soon after.

"... _I'll be back—just wait. I promise."_

Well, if there was anyone who could defy the normal laws that govern the universe(s), it was Harry Potter. Though he shouldn't have knowledge of that yet, that was basically the case here. He found himself waking up in the familiar forest of Wonderland against all reason, under the warm glow of fluorescent leaves and cushioned by soft turquoise. He must have still been unconscious while floating to the ground, because he had no memory of it.

Contrary to the natural method of awakening he usually used like the previous slow starting, this time he sprung up onto his feet as if his arse was on fire. In a sense of anxiety and mystique, he whirled around with wide eyes as he recognized everything. Everything was exactly like last time, so he reckoned—

"Midri!" His happy voice shattered the quiet of the forest. "Hey Midri! I'm back! I told you I would, see!"

He searched desperately up into the lower branches of the trees around the clearing. No one.

"Midri?" Harry called out again. No answer.

Excitement dropping exponentially as if doused with cold water, he furrowed his brows in confusion. Disappointment crept into his chest and strangled his heart. Thoughts and memories made together in that short but magical dream ran through his mind like speeding trains on collision courses. His emotions on all this turned to despair in mere seconds.

"_She didn't wait?"_ Harry thought, expression shocked and disconsolate. _"Best friends... She meant that, didn't she? But maybe she just doesn't know I'm here—she's at her home! Yes, she might be even sleeping at home!"_

Trying not to be give up too early, he paced around the clearing for a few minutes. His footsteps sounded to his ears unnaturally harsh against the grass that he remembered sharing with Midri. Thoughts of her turned him slightly impatient. He pouted in frustration as he decided what to do next.

His eyes strayed to the rich dirt path he once walked before, and then with a sudden inspiration he darted off in a sudden movement down the winding path further into the dark woods.

They hadn't been mindlessly wandering the last time he was here with Midri. If they had been doing that, they would have gotten lost. She had been leading purposefully down this path. Both of them had been heading somewhere. He just hadn't given much thought to where before, because he was enjoying himself.

Harry hoped it would lead to his long-lost friend.

Eventually, after almost losing himself twice, he was amazed to find what appeared to be a village in the forest. The clearing this time was much larger, with some of the gargantuan trees hollowed out to make apartment buildings and residences (with doors, windows, and everything)! All sorts of people were up and about, most being adults with purple hair, but they seemed to glance at him indiscriminately before going on with what they were doing. As he looked up toward the canopy, he realized he could finally see the sky in some spots. It was black and speckled with an innumerable amounts of stars. He wouldn't be able to tell now if the day was normally blue like his own world, since it was nighttime.

Harry felt more hopeful than before. "Maybe Midri's really sleeping."

"Midri? Why would you be looking for _her?_" A boyish voice sounded from behind him.

Whirling around, he faced an older boy (likely around 14) with yellow eyes and bi-toned black-purple hair. A quick glance around had him thinking that he had yet to find someone without purple somewhere on his or her person. Was this a popular trend here? If it was, it was pretty ridiculous. Not to mention it was overwhelming. They all looked generally the same, like they were cloned off each other. _Actually, it wouldn't be such a wild idea,_ Harry thought. He also had yet to see a female too. They could all be cloned off some purple-haired man, for all he knew.

"Oi, are you listening, nyaki-chi?" Something in this guy's tone didn't sound nice. Harry was surely being addressed demeaningly too, though he may not have known what 'nyaki-chi' meant. It put him on edge.

Despite what his instinct told him, our little hero asked, "Do you know where Midri is?"

When the rude boy smirked knowingly, Harry was reminded of his fat cousin when he was pleased because of Harry's misfortunes. It didn't foretell good things. Harry's leg muscles tightened in an urge to leave. But he stayed. Why? Because his desire to find his friend seemed to override that.

The boy's eyes glinted seriously as he regarded Harry with acute inspection. "Well, well... We don't get many humans here. They usually get lost on the way to this village and then suffer some obscure death because they wandered down the wrong path." Harry froze in fear at that information. Midri hadn't told him that about the forest. "You're either very lucky, or you were shown toward this place by a Cheshire." Or maybe she had known and had been looking out for him after all.

Smirking again, however, the rude boy looked positively sadistic as he continued his unnervingly accurate examination, "Seeing how you're asking for _Midori-nyan,_ though... I can see you were discovered by a Cheshire. Did you lose sight of her? Perhaps that's because _Midri_ is imprisoned right now."

Harry gasped. "She's in prison? Why's Midri in jail?" He couldn't believe it. Had she done something wrong?

"Well, nyaki-chi, that's because she's been missing for a _year_. Our elders were worried she would go rogue, so they captured her two days ago and have had her locked her up against her will since then! Happy ending!" He chuckled in amusement.

That wasn't funny to Harry, considering that he himself must have been the reason she'd been missing. He angrily retorted, "It's not funny! She was only missing because she was looking for me! They shouldn't lock her up!"

Purple eyebrows raised suggestively. "Oh-ho?" He imposed on the younger boy's personal space and leant his face uncomfortably close to Harry's, until their noses were practically touching. Harry startled, but still glared defiantly into the face of the older boy. "You must be someone special if Miss Midri went missing for _a whole year,_ for you." He smiled widely. "You'll probably be thrilled to find out the happy situation she's in right now." The way he said it didn't make it sound good, and Harry worried about what he'd find out.

"What situation?" Harry fired at the boy, but unfortunately the Cheshire had pulled back and was already fading away into invisibility. Soon Harry would be talking to only air. "Hey! Wait! Where's the jail? What happened to her?" He yelled.

The creepy grin was still showing, frighteningly floating in thin air. "Her jail cell is the highest point in the forest—and wouldn't you like to know?" Soon even the grin faded, and Harry was again left alone amongst a sea of purple-haired strangers.

"Where's the highest point?" Harry muttered irritably to himself as he turned on his heel to glance around at the trees.

He stopped and was surprised to find that the tallest point was on the tree just behind him. A doorless entranceway on the tree led to a spiralling staircase inside it, which went up an exhausting length. Harry did not look forward to climbing those stairs. He would probably expire before he made it to the top!

Harry groaned crabbedly, "Oh for heaven's sake... Midri better make this up to me afterwards."

Though irascible in tone, Harry truly worried for the state of his best friend. She had gotten into trouble because of him, and was imprisoned unfairly because of a promise he had made... and had failed to remember until a year had passed. He felt guilty, but angry that the Cheshires would be so unreasonable! So he would try to talk to them, and if that didn't work... He would break her out somehow!

Though he hadn't quite figured out how, yet.

He would figure that out while he ascended those stairs.

**[ Continue to Part 2 of _Backwards Compatible_, Chapter 03. ]**


	3. Backwards Compatible II

Chapter 03

Backwards Compatible

(Part Two)

Oh thank god; He finally reached the top! After he did, he felt like nearly collapsing onto the ground. Well, he would, if it weren't frigid to the touch. He could feel it through his sneakers! It must be the height and wind that makes everything colder here. So, **no more collapsing** for our little hero today.

Let's take a moment to flash back to the moment our hero met that cat's eyes and remembered everything about Wonderland, followed by him fainting. Man, that wasn't manly at all. But, to his credit, at least he remembered Midri and on top of that returned to Wonderland against all odds. Still, he blacked out because of a _kitten_. Surely doesn't have likeable implications concerning Harry. Not that he believed in machism or anything. Alright, moment over.

No, instead, he bent over with his hands on his knees panting. _"So. Many. Stairs. Grr!"_ He proceeded to think unpleasant things for a five seconds, during which he regained his breath.

Apparently, nestled in the fluffy umbrella of leaves and twisting black limbs on top of this tree was a circular, stone plateau. It wasn't particularly big, and there were no walls to speak of, but because of thick columns periodically interspersed on the perimeter it held a flat roof.

"Har... ry...?" The speech was painfully languid and drowsy, but it was still intelligible. "Harry, you're... you really came?"

Now who could that be?

"Midri!"

With his composure and mind in the right place, he dashed to the heart of the plateau where a spherical steel cage floated off the floor. He wasn't sure if he could call it big. If the trees in this forest weren't so huge, his perception of big and small would be comprehensible. But the sphere was barely big enough to sit in, let alone stand up in. Midri seemed to be curled up like an abandoned kitten in the cage. Her tail was tucked between her legs, and her ears were pulled back showing her unhappiness.

To keep a person locked up in something like this for—what was it, two days?! She was just a girl! Sure, it seems like she ran away. But to do this was a bit extreme, wasn't it? Harry began fretting on what kind of people the Cheshire's society was composed of. Having met Midri first, his first impression of Cheshires was that they were mischievous yet caring, but after all that happened on his second trip so far... He wasn't so sure about anything anymore. But he did know Midri was his friend, so he made sure to focus his thoughts on getting her out of this cage.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, worried.

Midri had been honestly very pissed off until now. Putting her in here against her will and going to such lengths to make sure she didn't run away was one thing. To worry her charge, force him to climb this horrible tree, and let him see his guardian in this state was another, though. She knew that despite Harry's good intentions, the Cheshires would not let her go so easily. Guilt was tearing her up inside, because her charge—Harry, her best friend—had come all this way while defying _the laws of the universe,_ just to have to go back empty-handed. It was cruel.

And Harry's dedication was a big debt to repay. It gratefully made her feel warmer inside, but it tortured her mind as well.

Midri's intuition kicked in, and she knew then that she couldn't let her negative mood hurt Harry. "I'm fine." She smiled weakly, "Could be better. About not being there to meet you, nya... I'm sorry."

Harry didn't know how to react to this. She was obviously not fine, but she was trying to sound like everything was normal. It reminded him of himself, and being locked in his cupboard day after day. Though he didn't like it, he didn't do anything in retaliation and tried to act like any other kid. This was done mostly in fear of what his Aunt and Uncle would do if he defied them. It was not like he had anywhere else to go, or could go without being dragged back somehow. Harry's fists clenched at his sides as he found that this situation now made him feel more upset than it had before. It didn't take much to make this personal.

By this time, any respect he had for the vast majority of Cheshires reversed and took a nose-dive.

His control on temper wasn't as good as Midri's, but it was still there. She could tell it wasn't so much her that he was angry at while he shouted at her, "It's not fine! Even though you were just waiting for me, they locked you up! You... It doesn't bother you at all?!" His fists were shaking, and as memories of his own life flashed through his mind, the strong compulsion to hit something was hard to deny.

But he calmed down at her next words. He started feeling bad when he noticed that her voice was shaky with fear at his volume, but she seemed to understand at least. "It does bother me..." She tried not to sniffle and cry, but her pleasant facade wasn't that good in the first place. "B-but I can't escape, no matter what I try. Even when I a-asked nicely, they wouldn't l-let me!"

She lost her composure and curled into an even tighter ball, probably to hide her face horribly distorted by her crying. To her credit though, she didn't utter a sound other than frequent sniffles.

No one likes it when their friend is crying. Harry is a sweet child too, considering his cirumstances at home. So, that is what it took for him to lose his temper, and thus control of his fists. In a childish tantrum, he rashly punched the obviously magical steel cage floating in the center of the stone plateau. He wasn't sure what he expected to achieve from that exactly, but what happened afterwards definitely wasn't it. Just for an instant, a flash of warm light erupted silently around his fist, and then it was gone without a trace. If one weren't paying attention, it wouldn't be noticed. But Harry was paying that much attention, and it prompted him to stop to think.

First he noticed his hand wasn't in pain. There's no doubt he's hit things before, so he would be understandably confused at that. Second and most important, however, he noticed his hand went slightly _into_ the cage. The metal around his fist didn't bend inwards towards the impact zone, because there was no impact zone. His fist just... went through.

Harry pulled back his fist slowly in awe, watching as wherever his fist touched the strange steel disappeared. In a dazed wonder, he unthinkingly uncurled his hand and touched his palm flat against the cage. Not aware of what her charge was doing, Midri was even more unprepared than Harry for what happened next. One moment she's hiding her face until she's calm again, then she's hitting the floor below the cage, and her rounded form is unravelled painfully on the ground.

There was a moment of tense silence as the two tried to figure out what just happened. After a while, Midri groaned pitifully as she tried to ignore a couple days of starvation and restless sleep in order to stand up in front of Harry. She could at least manage that. Though even that proved somewhat difficult with her mental state right now.

When she did, Harry had to help her anyway unless she wanted to kiss the ground again. Things felt awkward somehow, but there were things more important that they needed to worry about. So Harry started first.

Worried about a lot of things, he asked his friend, "What do we do now?" Because honestly speaking, he knew nothing about Wonderland and wasn't sure if he could go back to Earth with or without Midri.

"Umm." She muttered intelligibly in reply, but rushed out a solution. "Let's run away! Hurry!"

His panic at her panic made his tone even more afraid. "Uhh! Where? Where do we go?"

And thus started the frantic escape from Cheshire Tower.

_Run away! Escape, escape!_

They were exhausted by the time they made it into the clearing where they had met each other. They didn't have much of a plan either, so they felt pretty much doomed by that point. The only reason they even made it this far was because of Midri's magic, which was also exhausted. Contrary to her typical behaviour, this time she hadn't bothered explaining it. All she had said was an indisputable "I'm borrowing some magic." before a strange sensation of an invisible layer of thick clothes covered his and her _whole bodies_. Then with Harry supporting her awkwardly they had walked right past everyone. Though the feeling faded away only a few minutes into the forest, Harry felt it was better than nothing.

Without a need for words, they both flopped in synch onto the especially inviting turquoise grass. Their laboured breathing seemed quite loud in the quiet of the forest, but at the moment they didn't care. They were tired, they felt doomed, and they were going to get their breaths back. They both gradually rolled over from on their hands and knees to on their backs side-by-side, not unlike they had done the first time around.

Eventually they were back to at least breathing normally. A pleasant sigh escaped Midri's lips as she stared fondly up into the fluorescent canopy. Harry too copied her, and sighed with appreciation. Silence.

"Don't panic, but... They'll find us eventually, you know." Midri said, completely calm and not visibly worried.

"Yeah." He sounded worried, but he didn't say anything else.

There was another stretch of quiet as they both became wrapped up in their thoughts. It wasn't as awkward as it was a while ago, though. When they were at peace like this, there was a content feeling that was irresistably relaxing.

Midri asked, though more for confirmation than wonder, "Harry, you'll most likely go back to your world again, right?"

"Probably."

"Then, can you..." She caught his attention after mentioning him, but she hesitated, which prompted him to turn his head so he could glance at her. The moment he caught her eyes, she sat up.

He sat up, too. _Midri?_ He would've said aloud, but she was continuing.

"Will you take me with you?" She asked bluntly.

Shock prevented him from speaking for a moment, until he recovered. "B-but, Midri," He stumbled over his words as his mind raced, "what about Wonderland?"

She repeated the latter part of his statement, then easily waved it off. "If I stay here, I'll only be used as a tool here. They'll only lock me up and use me for their sakes. I won't be happy. But with you _I am_. Happy, that is."

He flushed a little at how easily she admitted that. It may be caused by the fact that he's a boy, and for some reason in boys' heads it's uncool to admit who they like while they'll openly state their dislikes... Or just plain embarassment, but Harry showed a taken-aback expression that offended Midri.

"What? It's true." She insisted, dryly this time. "So next time you're leaving, I'm coming with you." Her voice wasn't commandeering, but it was filled with confidence that she'd be able to.

Harry didn't doubt her abilities. She probably knew a lot more than he did at this point in time, and in the back of his mind he wondered if she would teach him how to do some of the stuff she did. He recalled her saying something about him and her being alike, so if he asked, it didn't sound like an unreasonable thing to him.

But anyway, about her coming to Earth, "What about your ears and tail?"

"What's wrong with my ears and tail?" She asked carefully, having an inkling to his meaning. "Do I need to conceal them?"

A nod of affirmation. "There are no Cheshires on Earth, at least to my knowledge." He thought about the Cheshires' ability of invisibility. "So you'll stick out too much."

"Hmm... Well, I guess that's fine. I can revert this half-transformation with little effort. But I need to eat something." Timely, her stomach growled as if to solidify this fact, making them both laugh.

Midri rapped her fingers against her knees rhythmically as she sat and planned the details for her new adventure. It was unknown territory, so she would need to rely a lot on Harry's knowledge, but there was still a lot she could do for herself. First is the transformation to a more human form.

Harry watched as Midri took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. It was lucky he didn't blink next, because in a flash her fuzzy cat ears ducked into the top of her head while normal human ears peaked out from beneath her messy black-green hair. He glanced down to see her tail had disappeared completely.

He had never really paid attention to her clothing before, but she was wearing simple black shorts with a lower waistband than he'd seen most people wear. To cover up the skin that showed though, she wore a long yet thin white tee-shirt with a swirly black motif on it. She wouldn't look too out of place, though she seemed more punkish than a nine-year-old (assuming she was the same age) would look like. Not to stereotype, but parents typically didn't let their daughters dress like that—especially her black hair that, not to mention, has _green_ in it. He liked it though. Oh, this should remind him that he needs to ask her about any family she might've had, as well.

"Woah." He exclaimed in surprise. "Cool!"

She grinned mischievously at him. "If you're surprised by this simple magic, wait until I'm showing you the real stuff. For Cheshires, transformation is nothing."

Harry grinned as well. "Does that mean you're going to teach me to do magic, too?"

Midri adopted a mockingly hurt expression. "Well of course! It's not like I was just going to do magic to rub it in your face like this: Nya, nya, you wish you could do this, nya!" Her face was definitely not innocent when she was mocking him, if the toothy grin and red tongue were any indication to go by.

He laughed, clearly excited at this opportunity. "Oh yeah, _sure_ you weren't." Of course, though, he had to ask when the moment cooled down, "Midri, you don't have any parents, do you?"

Midri actually stopped to think about it, which confused Harry. When she shook her head negatively but otherwise seemed unaffected by the question, he patiently waited for her to explain like she usually did. He was disappointed when she only gave him a 'What?' look in response.

"Nevermind. I don't have any either." He paused to think of what to say next. "So I live with my Aunt and Uncle."

Excited that Harry had accepted the idea of her tagging along, Midri chirped "Oh, are they nice?"

"... No."

Her face dropped into worry as she tried to see his expression but couldn't as he kept looking away. He was looking away because he didn't want her to see something... She didn't completely understand the necessity for guardians or parents for Harry, seeing as the young in Cheshire society tended to be more independent than the youth in human society. At one point she did have a guardian/parent of course, though that was until she could survive on her own. She did understand the idea of what a guardian was supposed to do and act like, though. Someone who protected the health and vitality of their charge. Midri liked the idea of being a guardian.

So what could be wrong? His Aunt and Uncle were his guardians, right? How could guardians be... not nice, but still be called guardians? What were they doing to Harry, then? Midri's concerns and confusion wouldn't be cleared up until he explained it. The first step was being able to examine his facial expression, because body language told more than words sometimes.

But he wouldn't look at her.

"Hey, Harry... Harry? Look at me."

When he didn't answer, she rolled onto her feet and in one smooth movement flipped over him to the other side he was facing. Startled by her acrobatics, he had no time to cover up the remnants of his previous expression. So she saw. He watched her freeze in recognition, before her expression melted into something soft. He looked down embarrassed at that look, but that wouldn't stop her from leaning forward and hugging him. Even more embarrassed, he didn't move an inch, but in any case she never pulled away.

"Maybe we should both run away." Midri whispered.

Harry wanted to agree. Maybe if he was with Midri, it would work this time. So he hugged her back.

Reaching their ears from deep within the forest, the monstrous bellows of hundreds of furious Cheshires disrupted the peaceful melancholy of the moment. Perhaps they hadn't expected the both of them to be able to make it this far. Loosening their embrace, the Green Cheshire and the Green-Eyed Human shared a scared look before with a burst of adrenaline they both got to their feet and ran. Leading him by hand, Midri picked a direction she'd explored before, and they stumbled tiredly together through the warped foliage. Preoccupied with the mad sounds of the hunters after them, they didn't notice the growing sparsity of the black tree trunks as they sped through.

[ Chapter End! ]

So, by what's obvious, we can tell the both of them plan to go to Earth.

Midri, or Midori, will most likely have culture shock.

Well, this is all assuming they actually elude capture from the Cheshires.

They're also implied to be of the same age, of nine years.

That gives us two years before Harry's Hogwarts Letter.

However, Midri plans on teaching Harry what she knows.

That, and plan a rescue for him as well. :D

They're in for quite a wild ride.


End file.
